Five months ago when Guardian Media visited the community of Rampanalgas for our No Child Left Behind series, when it was revealed that many children in the village did not have devices to attend their online classes, as families were unable to purchase devices.
In many instances, one device was being shared among several children who were in different classes in a household.
“Every day it was like a burden, a stress,” Rampanalgas resident Nicole Roberts said.
Roberts said this resulted in students like her grandson not logging into virtual classes and instead participating in other activities to pass the time.
“All the children and them change up because they use to be on the road, every minute you see all the children on top the hill, come down the hill and they head by the beach,” Roberts said.
The situation changed completely in the community after their story aired and good Samaritans across the country donated tablets and laptops to their families.
“Since he get he device, every day he is present in class…I just thank God allyuh (sic) come our way,” Roberts said.
When we last visited the village, Crystal Maraj was worried about her son’s education and afraid that he would be left behind.
She told explained he found it hard to focus as she showed us the broken tablet screen he had to use. But since he got the new device his attitude towards schoolwork and his performance have both changed.
“He home with me working and he got a super grade this previous term, good enough for me it was very satisfying to me and the teachers,” Maraj said.
Minutes before Maraj spoke with Guardian Media, she said the principal of the Rampanalgas RC Primary School called her and congratulated her on her son’s performance in term two.
“When you’ll put that out there we were offered a lot of help… since that we’ve been going good,” Maraj said.
Principal Naina Ali said the donations led to a turnaround in the mindset of families in the community and she has seen vast improvement.
“I now have a working village, my children are trying their best,” Ali said.
Despite the devices, connectivity still remains a problem.
Ali said while over 90 per cent of her students attend classes daily they sometimes drop off classes due to the poor connection.
“The children have the tablet but at times they have to go by the neighbour to get internet from them and then on a whole the internet sometimes just don’t work on certain days. But they are still there trying, every time the internet drop they will come back on,” Ali explained.
Back in November when Guardian Media reached out to Digicel’s public relations head Colin Greaves about poor connectivity in the area he admitted that there was limited infrastructure in Rampanalgas.
He said it was no quick fix but the company’s technical and operation teams were trying to rectify the situation.
But according to three of the country’s major local internet service providers at a Joint Select Committee on Social Services on Hybrid Learning on Wednesday, connectivity will always be an issue in these communities.
But for those who are willing to stand the consequences and purchase internet there will soon be $100 packages, vat inclusive, to low-income households.
TSTT, Digicel and FLOW told a parliamentary committee that they are working with the Ministry of Education to draft a means test, based on a survey of those who do not have the internet at home.
The Rampanalgas RC Primary School has a total of 58 students and Ali said with the effort she’s seen recently she is certain that the children from the area will be given an opportunity to compete with those in other districts.
Parents and the entire community are full of gratitude for those who took the time to help change the lives of those in the little North-eastern village.
“It made we, as less fortunate parents, we felt much better, we felt good, we felt wanted as a community,” Maraj said.